'A little bit dark, a little bit odd, always absolutely beautiful': The short stories of Carys Davies

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Lisa Sharp, the owner of Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, Ark.Short story collections aren't Sharp's usual jam.She prefers full-length novels — "I always feel like I want a little more," she said.But Carys Davies' forthcoming collection, "The Redemption of Galen Pike," won her over. She picked it up at a bookseller convention, read it in one night, and spent the rest of the weekend telling everyone to check it out.The stories in the collection bounce all over the world, from Siberia to Australia to a Colorado jail. They circle the issues of isolation and loneliness."The stories tend to go places you didn't expect," Sharp said. "Not like some kind of hokey surprise ending, just not what you would expect.""I read constantly as a bookseller, so I feel like I know stories — I can guess where they're going. But these all resolved in ways that came out of the blue for me."They're always a little bit dark, a little bit odd, always absolutely beautiful and hard to forget.""The Redemption of Galen Pike" will hit shelves in April.The Redemption of Galen PikeThe Redemption of Galen Pike